. >>> right now, a developing story from the civil war in syria. senior u.s. officials tell abc news, president bashar assad's forces have loaded nerve gas components into bombs at or near syrian airfields. it is assumed, the intent was to move the bombs onto aircraft. but there's no way to know if that happened for certain. the issue, of course, has the full attention of the obama administration. >> our concerns are that an increasingly desperate assad regime might turn to chemical weapons or might lose control of them to one of the many groups that are now operating within syria. >> syrian ground forces and rebels have been battling in and around syrian capital of damascus. it is now estimated that more than 40,000 people have been killed in violence in march 2011. >> just an atrocity there. >>> now to the pink slips at citigroup. the company is slashing 11,000 jobs worldwide. about 4% of its work force. more than half of those cuts will come from consumer banking. and they are aimed at saving $900 billion next year alone. investors were apparently pleased.